THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
MARKET PLACE AT TOZER
chiefly of brown clumps of the grass
called "alfa" or "esparto," the long tough
leaves of which are pulled by hand and
shipped in bales to Europe for making
baskets, straw hats, and paper of fine
quality.
After spending the night at Gafsa, I
was up betimes and took an early train
to Metlaoui, the terminus of the railway.
Here I was met by two Arab boys with
donkeys sent by the Controleur Civil
from Tozer, the chief town of the Jerid.
A discharged soldier, returning to his
oasis home at the expiration of his service
in a regiment of "spahis"-the Franco
Tunisian cavalry-invited himself to join
our company. It was a 35-mile ride over
the desert from Metlaoui to Tozer.
Although late in October, the heat was
intense. The road-a mere track and
hardly distinguishable-followed part
way the stony bed of a dry "oued," and
then struck out across the desert. Over
head was the cloudless sky, underfoot
the blazing sand, and around us the
sharp forms of desert mountains, devoid
of soil and trees. At midday we lunched
in the scanty shade afforded by the mud
brick walls of a little "bordj," a walled
enclosure where travelers may encamp
and, if need be, defend themselves
against marauders.
The Arabs, who had hitherto beguiled
the way with gutteral chatter and laugh
ter and occasionally with a nasal chant
ing that kept time to the jog trot of the
donkeys, were silent during the long, hot
afternoon.
Towards evening the air
freshened and our tired animals quick
ened their steps. Alighting for a moment,
Yusuf ben Mohamed, the ex-spahi, ad
justed his fez with the aid of a pocket
looking glass. Then, taking from his
wallet a sash of crimson silk and giving
one end of it to the donkey boy, he
turned round and round until it was
neatly wrapped in many folds about his
waist. We were evidently nearing the
end of our journey.
A few minutes later we paused on the
brink of a deep ravine and saw before
us-sharp and black against the red even
ing sky-a long fringed line of palm
crowns. It was the oasis of El Hamma,
the first of the Beled el Jerid. We skirted
a corner of this oasis, passed through its
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